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Written by Alireza Banaeifar (Vice-Chairperson, ICYC), 2020-01-17 10:59:08
Enabling the youth to play effective role in
their socio-economic development, is a vital objective that all countries and
organizations need to realize. The growth of any organization or country relies
on long term stability; and their continuous growth and development can’t be
achieved without empowering younger generations (UN, 2015).
Today's generation of youth is the largest in the history. Over 3 billion people, nearly half of the world's population, are under the age of 25. Almost 90% of all youth live in developing countries. Young people are a valuable asset to their countries and investing in them brings tremendous social and economic benefits.
The young generation has a dream to bring a
positive impact in their societies and countries. They have a desire to ensure
that their imprint leaves a legacy of their dreams and hard work. They can
provide a platform for change, that can do wonders in their societies. If only
the government of various countries and leaders of different organizations are
willing to be innovative and embrace what the youth have to offer them, can the
inspiring change begin to unfold. For this to happen, what is needed is
innovative initiatives for youth that can have desirous impact on societies and
economies. With a focused youth driven economy, countries can minimize the
potential of youth involvement in activities that tears up the society.
The story is the same for cooperatives. As one of the strategic partners of the economy, in both social and economic aspects, they are dependent on youth Creativity, Ambition, and Energy.
With the help of cooperatives, economies are
growing day by day and societies are getting benefitted in all the imaginable
sectors. In the new competing world, which is full of complexities and
ambiguities, young people offer creativity, critical reasoning, never-say-die
attitude, and the courage to question the odds.
The era of traditional way of managing, controlling and assessing is over. We now live in times, when a solution is proposed even before a potential problem arises.
In my country, Iran, as well as some other countries,
young people are neglected by higher authorities while managing various issues.
For the future that is dependent on us and how we are shaped, it is important
that we are given opportunities to train ourselves, to explore and experiment,
to assess our strengths and weaknesses, and to gauge the extent of the
contributions that we can make to cooperatives, and thereby, the economy. In doing so, as youth, we will also have to learn to be patient and laborious.
As youth, we can climb great heights to make the future of cooperatives powerful and memorable!
